


Someone To Run With

by Belfire



Category: Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics)
Genre: Jason trying to read a book, Jayroy, Kissing, M/M, Romance, Roy not letting him, Twister - Freeform, Twister with a Twist, angsty jay, cute stuff, implied past sexual abuse, more twister, sweet roy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 10:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14669142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belfire/pseuds/Belfire
Summary: A not so innocent game of Twister insinuated by Roy turns catastrophe and then.... something else.





	Someone To Run With

**Author's Note:**

  * For [diamondheartwarrior](https://archiveofourown.org/users/diamondheartwarrior/gifts).



" What the hell is this?" Jason's lost eyes moved from the book he had been reading to the box dumped into his lap and then to the redhead who had dropped it there, now looming over him with a big smile. Roy looked hopeful and his grin was big enough to stretch across the continent. 

" It's Twister!" 

Jason took a small study of the white box with bold writing and cartoon characters stretching into impossible posses to lay either a hand or a foot on a bright coloured circle. The game looked fun if he had been five.

" I know what it is, Roy, but why is it here?" He pushed it off his lap and onto the sofa cushion beside him, already prepared to read the next page of Pride and Prejudice when his ginger roommate was done explaining this one. 

" I thought since, you know, I'm not terrible at acrobatics and you're like, a super sexy badass ninja boy...." Roy involuntarily trailed off. He hadn't meant to add the 'super sexy' part, or at least not say it aloud, but Jason didn't listen to a third of what he said as it is, so it went past him. He continued to stare up at him with perplexed electric blue eyes, the 'hows' and 'whys' no yet established.

" Aw, fuck it, remember last month when I got that knife to the stomach?"

" Uh, yeah..." 

" You said you'd do anything if I didn't go and die on you, correct?"

Jason's tongue fleetingly darted across his lips, beginning to realise the sinkhole he had allowed himself to fall into. 

" I may have said something along those lines."

" Welp," with authority he did not have over the younger man, Roy brought both his hands to a rest on his hips and eyed Jason down with a steely, unwavering gaze. " I want you to play Twister with me."

" I am... not playing Twister with you, Roy." He shook his head slowly in tune with his words, his messy onyx bangs swaying as he did. 

" You said you'd do anything!"

" Yeah, but when you were passed out, I added 'anything but Twister'." 

Roy's gaze narrowed to slits, leering at him now. " That is a big fat lie and you know it, Jason. It's either Twister or I'm dragging you to the local arcade and we're playing Dance Dance Revolution."

" God, how old are you, Roy? Arcades don't even exist anymore." 

Roy wasn't listening to what he considered to be distractions. " Pick. Twister or DDR? Since you don't like seeing people the obvious choice would be...."

"... Twister." Jason's chest expanded greatly as he heaved out a mighty sigh of defeat, unable to escape from the crooked claws of Roy's favourite board game, although he couldn't help the niggling suspicion that the ginger archer had an ulterior motive besides getting him to twist into a pretzel and probably Instagramming the evidence photo. He had to get into Roy's head and figure him out before he could turn this into something Jason would regret more than his promise a month ago. 

Roy took Jason's slightly smaller hands in his own and pulled him off the couch, Pride and Prejudice ironically falling to the ground with no pride at all.

" I'll set up the mat, you.... hold the dial." Roy thrust the thin cardboard dial with a plastic pointer into Jason's arms as he was already breaking into the box, excited as a kid on Christmas. He pulled out the white and polka dotted mat and spread it across the floor, weighing down the corners with the box and Jason's book. Once done and now kneeling by his friend, Roy smiled up at him with such enthusiasm that Jason couldn't bear to do as he had been planning: jump out of the window and disappear down the alley. He had no clue why Roy wanted to play this children's game, but could he really stand in the way?

" Okay, I'll start." Roy reclaimed the dial and spun the pointer, watching as it twirled around in rapidly lessening velocity until it proclaimed left foot/red as the starting point.

" How appropriate." He grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at a grudging Jason, who uncomfortably stepped onto the mat. His hands were thrust deep into his pockets and his arms were as rigid as his whole body. This was something he clearly didn't want to do but Roy remained confident that he would enjoy a little carefree activity once he got into it.

After taking another spin, Roy placed his right-hand flat on a green dot, smiling up at Jason as he did.

" See? This is fun!" 

" Yeah," he nodded his ebony head, remaining unconvinced. " Sure is." 

With the dial controlling their movements like a tyrannous god, Jason knelt and placed his own hand next to Roy's on blue and interlocked their gazes, his questioning.

" Is this really all there is to this game?" Although it seemed really weird, Jason had never actually played Twister. Not even as a child, but he'd expected it to be more challenging.

" It's gonna get a lot harder, trust me." Stretching his leg across the mat, he plunked it down on yellow as per the dial's instructions. As the game continued, they kept finding themselves in an increasingly weird messes of limbs until neither could spin and Jason had somehow ended up in a backbend beneath Roy with his arm twisted behind his head to reach red and the other barely supporting his weight as he tried not to fall on his back, all while Roy himself had a leg on the furthest corner of the map and another by Jason's hip, both hands above his head.

" Uh, now what?" Jason's voice was awkward and his eyes hesitant to meet Roy's. Most likely he was trying to ignore his friend's heat draining into his body or their close proximity. Roy wouldn't be at all surprised if Jason wasn't used to having a man on top of him, but some little devil in him took pleasure in dragging him out of his comfort zone and into a more submissive role. He was so high-strung that not having control for once did him good. 

" Now," he laughed a little, " we try to get the other to fall over. Whoever lasts longest wins -- no kneeing me." He added the last hastily as he could predict that that's exactly what Jason had been planning so as to end the game quicker. Jason squirmed and tried to topple Roy's balance best he could, but he was in the more vulnerable position. His arms trembled in the ever-growing effort of supporting himself but he wasn't giving up. His eyes burned with determination to come out on top, both literally and metaphorically. 

Roy couldn't help the small curve of his lips as he watched the other struggling for what was mostly effortless for himself, all he had to do was remain on his palms and knees until Jason collapsed because that backbend was bound to get uncomfortable after a while. That's when he began to slide his hand onto Jason's back and down the curve of his spine, settling in the middle.

" Wh - what are you doing?" 

" Just giving you a little added support." Roy's smile was sneaky and levered his arm, drawing an increasingly uncomfortable Jason against him more firmly. He remained rigid as a plank, unsure what was going on and unwilling to relax into the touch even if he might want to. Roy had never seen him at a loss when faced with a new situation and maybe he could have a little devilish fun with this.

" I actually think I'm fine." Jason stammered, eyes darting in the search for a save. His current position rendered him unable to escape easily and maybe that's how the cunning ginger had planned it.

" Yeah, you are." Roy craned his neck and felt the younger man bristle defensively as he caught a lock of his hair with his teeth, giving it a small but firm tug. Jason's breath hitched in his throat but he didn't order Roy to stop, which he took an extended invitation to lower his mouth onto Jason's. As he expected, Jason didn't respond to the kiss but didn't say anything either, no matter how hard the archer was suddenly pressing against him. When his tongue came knocking on his lips, it wasn't hard to part them and gain access, nor was it hard to enjoy the minty remnants of the gum that still flavoured the cavern of his mouth, but Roy couldn't help feeling like a necrophile after a while. Jason remained as torpid as a corpse when at first Roy had thought he was just shocked or confused, but he reacted in a zero-sum to anything he did. 

" Are you okay?" Roy asked, perversion forgotten and replaced with concern. He pulled back and made contact with impossibly wide eyes. Jason's lips moved to form inaudible words. Roy hadn't even noticed how his frame was shaking with small trembles or how his hand had been placed on his chest to form a frail barrier.

" C -- could you please get off me?" Roy hated how this sounded like a plea instead of a request. Instantly he relinquished his hold and let Jason down flat on the mat, pushing himself back onto his knees. 

" I'm so sorry, Jay. It was meant to be a joke..." He trailed off, realising there was no saving this situation. Jason didn't reply and picked himself up off the ground, his gaze lowered as he retrieved his book and his spot on the couch and as if nothing had happened, reopened it on the page he had been at. Roy stared, jaws parted in disbelief. Was Jason really going to dismiss that? Roy sure as hell wasn't going to ignore that frightened behaviour his friend showed. He joined him on the couch, crossing his legs and fixing his gaze on him.

" What gives? You were like a scared mouse. Did.... did something happen?" 

" Just forget it." Jason was suspiciously determined to keep himself focused on his book and not talk about just now.

" I'm not gonna forget it. if someone hurt you--"

" I said forget it!" He threw his read aside as he yelled, trying to sound angry but coming off more as defensive, thus cementing what Roy had been afraid of. He knew Jason had had a rough childhood on the streets, he just didn't know..... how rough. 

Jason stormed across the room and the forgotten Twister mat to grab his leather jacket by the door he intended to vanish out of, only Roy wasn't going to let him. He leapt up and caught his arm just as he was about to leave.

" Get the fuck off me." Jason growled, eyes two dark and threatening pools of anger. Anger not directed towards him, Roy knew, but towards someone else. Perhaps himself or the person who hurt him before.

" I'm not letting you run off, Jason. Not when you're like this."

" Oh yeah? Try an' stop me." He latched onto the door handle, about to throw if open when Roy took both his arms and gently pressed him into the wall. Jason could have fought back, thrown him across the room or broken his legs, but he didn't. Instead, he continued to leer at the ginger. 

" You gonna rough me up now, eh, sailor? Nice and hard?" A grin spread across his face, trying to keep up the tough guy act and make it look like it was something he wanted when in truth Roy suspected it was just the means to another excuse to avoid this thing.

" No. I would never do anything you don't want me to, especially when it includes you." He was sincere, staring at Jason, whose smile dwindled to nothing.

After a brief moment, Jason finally broke the silence.

" Why?" 

Roy was taken aback. " Wh -- why won't I hurt you?" His voice was caught stammering, now the confused one.

" Why are you trying to stop me from leaving? My messes aren't yours to deal with."

" Jason..." He breathed, understanding at once. He settled his hand on the side of the other's face, softly caressing his cheek with his thumb. " I wanna be there for you, and that includes sometimes stopping you from leaving when you're this vulnerable. You can't always run, and even if you do it doesn't hurt to have someone to run with."

" You still haven't answered why." Jason's voice was strained, holding back the untold amount of pent-up feelings.

"It's because... Well, I... I — oh fuck it." Roy cupped his face and kissed him deeply, a passionate gesture with no force to it. Jason gave a little  
moan and leaned into him, finally accepting the kiss. It was quick but meaningful and in what seemed like too soon for either one, Roy pulled away.

" It's because I love you." He finally said, feeling breathless after the most sincere truth he had ever told. 

Both fear and anger now gone, Jason found a small smile on his lips.

" Why didn't you lead with that?"

Roy's breath hitched with relief when he realised Jason felt the same and this time, Jason initiated the kiss. He pulled the archer against himself hard, willingly trapping himself between the wall Roy. Roy placed his hands behind his thighs and hoisted the slightly smaller man onto his hips, thrusting up against him hard enough to get a tiny yelp of surprise. 

It was magic and fire both at once. 

Before long, Roy carried him to the couch and they began tearing one another's shirts off. Jason peppered his toned chest with chaste little kisses, brewing up a storm in the ginger. 

" Oh fuck you, boy wonder." He gasped, the teasing almost too much to bear.

Grinning, Jason leaned back against the seat of the couch. " Go ahead." 

Roy smiled broadly like he was a kid who'd been given unlimited access to a candy store. He leaned in and roughly took Jason's mouth, still remaining careful not to hurt him, but Jason's own hasty actions made it clear that he wasn't afraid of a little harm coming their way.

Roy didn't know what he wanted most days. Sometimes it was a cig and sometimes a game of Twister, but today, it was Jason Todd.


End file.
